Dusk fell like a ruptured vacuum bag and by the time the sun was squinched shut, New Orleans was cloaked in a dense fog. It was rare that Louis visited their old home, and it was only by chance that Lestat discovered him there with David, having just returned from Paris himself. The city was a spectral spectacle all of October, but tonight was the height of the hysteria, where mortals dressed as monsters and children became beggars.
Louis was wearing a costume from a department store with a gimmicky, sweeping cape and a high collar that curled just under his chin. He was pacing up and down the hall with a bowl in his hands. David was drinking tea. Lestat left his suitcase in the vestibule, offended by their underwhelming welcome.
"It's Halloween," Louis offered in explanation.
He loitered around the front steps, offering chocolate to toddlers and spooking teenagers who thought their egos would save them. The moon dipped low in the sky before the stream of people ceased, a shiny pearl dropped into bowl of ink. Lestat had waited for his attention all evening, but he would wait no longer.
"Should I stand outside the house in costume?" Lestat snapped. "Perhaps then I might get so much as a greeting!"
Someone knocked on the door and Lestat's nostrils flared at the sound.
"Allow me," he declared viciously.
He crossed the room in an instant, tearing the door open to reveal a little girl clad in a red and black dress, bushy blonde hair fraying out from under a headband with bat wings. She took one look at Lestat and narrowed her eyes, dark red lips twisted into a frown. She was every bit Claudia's living image.
"You don't look like a real vampire!" she complained.
"He doesn't, does he?"
Louis approached with raised eyebrows; Lestat scowled. They could both hear David laughing in the other room. She couldn't have been older than five or six, but she was completely unaccompanied, save for the half-filled pillowcase sagging over her shoulder.
"Trick-or-treat," she announced, dropping the bag of candy onto their porch. She gave the scariest Dracula imitation she could with a lisp. "I want to suck your blood!"
Despite his temper, Lestat behaved, managing no more than a dramatic sigh. Louis dropped to one knee in front of her, so they were at eye level, and regarded her seriously.
"It doesn't look like anyone else will be coming tonight, so why don't you have the rest?"
She observed him carefully as he emptied the remaining contents of the bowl into her pink and white striped pillowcase. Two tiny white incisors poked out when she smiled. Louis mirrored the gesture, showing his fangs, and her face lit up with exhilaration.
"Those are real!" She spit the plastic teeth into her palm before glancing back to Louis. "How did you get them? Are you a real vampire?" She pulled at the ruffled collar of her costume to show him her neck. "Bite me, please bite me!"
Lestat laughed.
"Careful now," Louis warned. "You wouldn't want to be stuck a little girl forever, would you?"
Goosebumps rolled across her arms, but there wasn't time enough for the moment to settle. A round woman clutching a pointed black hat was barreling down the sidewalk, followed by a tall man with a moustache and devil horns. Louis looked up, stood, and took a step back.
"Izzy! Isabella!" shouted a worried voice, echoed by another, loudder. "Thank god she's safe!"
The witch snatched Isabella's hand before dropping to her knees and pulling her close. Her husband fumbled through an apology and the family meandered away together. Lestat stared pointedly at Louis after they rounded the corner, forlorn.
"We should have another."